The day has finally come to announce that, effective October 22nd, Dave Pauwels and I will be launching a Kickstarter campaign to raise funds for the next installment of FREE MARS. I'll let the official words of my partner fill in the details much more eloquently:

"Today we’re announcing the next step for Free Mars and once again, we need your help. Nic and I, along with our Ape Entertainment comrades, are partnering with Kickstarter to launch the second chapter in the Free Mars saga, Ashes2Ashes.

So, why use Kickstarter for Free Mars? The more we looked at this option, the easier the decision became. Simply, we want to give you- our loyal, beloved readers- as much as we possibly can, the best experience we possibly can. We could keep going as we have, which is great, but we now have a very real opportunity to do much, much more. Not only can we keep the weekly webcomic updating, but we can print a second book. Maybe even a third. But we can also do Sisters Grimm concert t-shirts (which look amazing). We can give Chris the go-ahead to sculpt more 30mm miniatures (Samantha is already done). We can do high quality art prints. We can do everything we’ve wanted to do to support Free Mars and expand the universe. A crowd-funding campaign gives us this opportunity, with your help.

Therefore, now is when we really need your support. If you’ve enjoyed what we’ve done so far, then now is the time to help us make sure we can keep going- maybe indefinitely. And we’re certainly not asking you to chip in for free. Like I said, we want to send you comics, t-shirts, miniatures, prints, etc. – all at or below what it would cost you to get at a comic shoppe or Con. We have always valued your support and we have put a lot of thought into the incentives we want to provide you – all of them things we ourselves would like to see.

So our project goes live on October 22nd . You all probably know the drill by now, the more support we get, the more we can give back. And every credit helps.

Besides, you can’t leave Kessler stranded in some hell-HOL waste mine on Earth.

Thanks for all your help, support, and encouragement over the years and thanks in advance for your assistance in the future. It means a lot to Nic and I that we get to keep creating Free Mars, but it means even more that you keep reading it."

So, there you have it. There will be LOTS of goods to share with you guys and this is your opportunity to get a hold of some very cool items and merchandise and, most of all, help us keep doing what we have done these past two years and a half: make the best webcomic out there on the net!

Thanks for reading this far and hope you enjoy the new illustration; this'll probably become an exclusive print